Collin Brathwaite, M.D. My first impression of Dr. Brathwaite was that he was very knowledgeable and very nice. I was impressed with how much he knew and you could tell that he loves what he does. So far his office staff has been nothing but nice.
I know i'm a few days late but better late than never right? Right now i'm still recooperating from surgery. Just learning how to eat and exercise (walk) slowly. My incisions barely hurt me but the GAS is OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! It's day 4 and im still battling this gas situation. it's the most horrible pain that u really cant get to. But would i do this all over again? Yes in a heartbeat!
Wow what do I say? I'm excited and nervous at the same time... I know it's been awhile since I posted so I'll recap the last week leading upto today..
Well I had 3 appts. this week, Tuesday was the pre-admission testing which went fine except for the EKG. Now to the normal person having an EKG done is nothing but if you've experienced what i have then you would understand my apprehension. Back in Feb. when i was going thru all of my pre-op stuff i had to go to my primary doctor to get some bloodwork done. Well in the course of getting that done they also needed to do an EKG. Since i never had one done before i was a lil nervous but the medical assistant explained everything and i was fine. To make a loooooong story short it took about 5 tries to get a decent readying because of the flimsy electrode films they use that kept slipping off not to mention laying flat on my back with my breast exposed and the door to the examining room being frequently opened and closed. I was sooooo pissed and so glad that was finally over. So back to what I was saying earlier...If I would've known i was getting one done i would've made sure i went ashy instead of putting on vaseline after showering. It took them 3x to get a good reading and while they were testing me all i could think of the was the horrific experience a few months ago. But once that was over everything else was good so I thought.
Wednesday I had an appt with my PCP for medical clearance. Now i'm thinking this should've been a breeze since all she had to do was the same ol same ol aske me a few questions,take my blood pressure, weigh me, check my breathing, and look in my ears, eyes, and mouth right? Wrong! After doing all of the above she had the nerve to tell me that the pre-op people requested another EKG!!!. I'm like what the F?? Are u kidding me. You're not going to try and take another reading with that little computer on wheels and the flimsy film again? But of course they had to. So after the medical assistant tries to 8 times yes i said 8 times to get a reading she calls in the dr who tries several times as well and all the time the flimsy film kept falling off everywhere...when she stuck the one that fell off on my leg the ones on my chest fell and when she fixed the one on my chest the one on my arms fell it was just ridiculous...so after taking the best 2 readings out of the 12 she then asks me...have you seen a cardiologist? I'm like no i didn't need to. If the surgeon felt i needed to after all this pre-op testing then he would've requested it. Now i'm thinking to myself don't try to blame me for ur wack machine and acting like i now have a heart problem because of ur stupid machine. So after all of that she tells me well we have a cardiologist coming in on friday and we'll let him have a look at it and call u back. At that moment all i could do was just stare at her in disbelief. If she wasnt pregnant i think i would've kicked her. ( Now i know this might've sounded harsh but u have to know the history btwn the 2 of us..lets just say she's not the biggest fan of WLS and the fact that i went on and pursued it without her guidance she's lil pissed about it, so anything she could do to slow down the process im certain she would.) So now i'm furious and worried. I'm suppose to have surgery the following monday on the 12th and she's talking about letting me know friday the 9th if i need to see a cardiologist or not. Needless to say i left out of there as fast as possible. I wanted to scream, cry, shout, something! Now all I can do is pray that everything goes according to plan.
Thursday was my final appt with Dr. Brathwaite before surgery. This was the appt where i bring my support person which is my mom! I'm glad she came that way she could ask him all the questions she wanted and she could stop driving me crazy..lol I also had an opportunity to speak with his nurse and I told her of my EKG situation..She told me not to worry that wont affect my surgery date! Boy i was soooo happy i almost kissed that woman(f.y.i I'm strictly hetero). So i'm back on cloud 9 after all that drama of the past week. I just found out that i'm the first patient of the day and i have to arrive at the hospital 5:45am my surgery is scheduled for 7:00am... Looking fwd to losing...lol
Thanks to my co-worker/friend who by the way got her date today yeaaaaaah! i'm finally making some progress on my own journey ...I had to call my dr. office once again since i hadn't heard anything but voicemails and the "we'll call you backs" Turns out they were still missing my pulmonary consult and my psych eval. Now when was anyone gonna tell me this. I hate to think had i not called them that my chart would've just been sitting in a corner collecting dust somewhere. So once again i had to call them up and ask them to fax it to the dr. office again aaaaaarrrrgh. But just as i was about to get aggravated my girlfriend was like why don't u have them fax the papers to you so you can have a copy and you send them to the dr. office..that way you know they got them.. I took her advice and within a few hours my doctors office called me to confirm that i've completed all of my pre-op stuff and my chart is complete...so hopefully i should get a call monday or tuesday with some good news....im keepimg my fingers crossed.
Well a lil about me... I'm a 29yr old single mom of a beautiful 2 1/2yr old lil girl. I'm also engaged to a wonderful,understanding and supportive man. I'm interested in having the lap-band surgery because im tired of being the big girl with the cute face, the president of the proud to be a big girl club and LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST I'M TIRED OF BEING FAT!!! I've been looking in to WLS for about 7yrs now. I've even convinced some of my girlfriends to get it and they all have yet i was to chicken enough to do it for myself. I told myself if i just stay committed to a good diet i would lose it. Well after having my daughter i ballooned up to 323.2 pounds and i was absolutely miserable. I finally decided to give Medifast a try and lost 30 pounds in 6 weeks... that's the most i've ever lost on my own. I was sooooo proud of myself. But then i started getting bored with the shakes and bars and the 1 actual meal a day and before I knew it i was back at 323lbs and that's where I am today. I'm hoping and praying with WLS that i will beat this weight battle once and forall... Oh and did i mention my wedding is September 19, 2009 I would love it if i could be my mini goal size of a 14.. Right now i'm 323 and i wear a size 22/24 and i even have some 26's in there.